Deadspin: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

On Scott Kazmir's Release, And That Bizarre Trade

Jack Dickey — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:45:00 EDT

The Angels released Scott Kazmir on Wednesday, and we had seen it coming for years. Hitters clobbered Kazmir in 2009, 2010, and, in his one 2011 start. He lost his control and velocity simultaneously, and stopped striking hitters out. More »

The Devil In Tampa: Remembering The Penny-Pinching, Snack-Policing, Nut-Cutting Days Of Vince Naimoli

Jonah Keri — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:00:49 EST

In his new book, author Jonah Keri covers the rise of the Tampa Bay Rays under the stewardship of two Goldman Sachs alums and a private equity banker, who in 2008 managed to do to the rest of the American League what some of their former colleagues were doing to the U.S. economy. Before their arrival, however, there was Vince Naimoli, the Rays' founding owner, a man too cheap for email. More »

World Series Preview: Rays Vs. Phillies

Will Leitch — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:00:28 EDT

The World Series is truly my favorite week of the year. Having the World Series going on is an excuse that gets you out of anything, every year. No matter what plans I might be forced into, all I have to say is, "Hey, the World Series is on," and people understand. You know how Will gets about his baseball ... More »

ALCS Preview: Rays Vs. Red Sox

Will Leitch — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:59:00 EDT

It is perhaps a clear indication that I drink a bit more than I should that, when I saw that the Rays and the Red Sox had both clinched on the same night, I thought, "Whew, good. Now one team won't be more hungover than the other one in Game 1." Hey, sometimes these things matter. I have to speak on a lunch panel the day after Election Night, which will surely go deep into the morning. I'll be fortunate not to vomit on someone's shoes. And no one wants to see Rocco Baldelli vomiting. He'll surely lose part of his small intestine. More »

ALDS Preview: Rays Vs. White Sox

Will Leitch — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:34:54 EDT

The Tampa Bay Rays are in the playoffs. Let it roll off your tongue. Toss it around. Swish it a bit. Look at the sentence closer. It might be a palindrome. The Tampa Bay Rays Are In The Playoffs. Everything's freaking NUTS, people. More »

Baseball Season Preview: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Leitch — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:20:03 EST

Devil Rays" alt="Click here to read Baseball Season Preview: Tampa Bay ~~Devil~~ Rays" src="http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/images/11/2008/02/small_percivalrays.jpg"/>

For the third consecutive season, we are proud to introduce the Deadspin Baseball Season Previews. Yes, baseball is awfully close now; it's spring training, after all. More »

Please do not call the Tampa Bay Devil Rays...

Leitch — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:22:03 EST

Please do not call the Tampa Bay Devil Rays "the Tampa Bay Devil Rays." [Baseball Musings] More »

A whole book about former DRays GM Chuck...

Leitch — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:25:44 EST

A whole book about former DRays GM Chuck LaMar? You bet. [DRays Bay] More »

The Rays Want You To Walk The Plank

Leitch — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:35:17 EST

In case you haven't seen it yet, right there's the blueprint for the new Tampa Bay ~~Devil~~ Rays stadium. It's a $450 million pirate ship. And, of course, the team currently has no plan to pay for it. Pretty, though ... we guess. More »

Kevin Costner Gets To Pretend He Plays Baseball Again

Leitch — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:35:06 EDT

With their whole name change — no more evil Rays! — Tampa Bay is unveiling their new uniforms next month. And they're bringing out the big guns for the experience. More »

Pitching Coach Fails In Escape From Tropicana Field

Leitch — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:35:01 EDT

This man is Jim Hickey, the pitching coach for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. As you'd expect, life as the pitching coach of the Devil Rays — sorry: Tampa Bay Rays — is not easy. It's enough to drive a man to drink. More »

Nowhere To Go But Up For The "Rays"

Leitch — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:02:20 EDT

It is sad when an American institution dies, the rain, as some lady said once, washing the memories off the sidewalks of life. Or something. More »

The D-Rays Have Funk

Leitch — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:35:48 EDT

In another of their amusing attempts to garner some positive publicity, the Devil Rays hosted '70s Disco Night at the Trop on Saturday. Of all the wacky scoreboard pictures, this one, and of course Delmon Young's, are our favorites. More »

Barry In Tampa ... What Might Have Been

Leitch — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:00:34 EDT

As we continue our plodding march toward "history," a march that has taken so long that we can't even keep up our outrage anymore, we consider what might have been. More »

Elijah Dukes' Divorce Proceedings, Shockingly, Are Getting Nasty

Leitch — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:40:02 EDT

As you probably might expect, the wife of "troubled" Devil Rays outfielder Elijah Dukes is filing for divorce. (This tends to happen when you send your wife's cell phones photos of guns.) She has come up with some not-really-all-that-surprising accusations. More »

Elijah Dukes Is On The Air

rickchand — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:00:00 EDT

We hope you weren't trying to get through to WDAE Radio on Tuesday, as various members of the Dukes family had the phone lines jammed pretty much all day. We hate when that happens. Tuesday was Fun Day for Ron Diaz and Ian Beckles over at the Ft. Lauderdale station, as an agitated Elijah Dukes called in from Phoenix with a rambling diatribe aimed at his estranged wife, NiShea Gilbert, whom he is accused of threatening. It was presumably an attempt at equal time on Dukes' part, as Gilbert had called in to the same show a couple of hours earlier. WDAE also aired an interview with Dukes' mother, Phyllis Dukes, later that day. Elijah: More »

Elijah Dukes Continues To Bat 1.000

rickchand — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:00:13 EDT

If you're a social worker who is considering a foster care applicaton, how could you not approve the couple who is related to Elijah Dukes? A 17-year-old girl who is in foster care with a relative of Dukes told the Tampa police that Dukes got her pregnant. The article goes on to say that Dukes will not be charged with a crime. That's because, while the age of consent in Florida is 18, if the other person is 24 or younger, age of consent is only 16. The Devil Rays outfielder was born on June 26, 1984, so ... and Dukes gets in under the tag! More »

Elijah Dukes Is Not Subtle About Voice Mail

Leitch — Wed, 23 May 2007 12:00:47 EDT

Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Elijah Dukes is off to a splendid start this year, and just watching him play, you can tell he has superstar potential. Hell ... he could very well be the next Brett Myers! More »

Whatever Brings The Fans In From All The Great Weather

Leitch — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:00:04 EDT

We appreciate that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, lacking that whole "fanbase" thing, are trying unconventional ways to rile up some local support. But no mascot, not even Raymond, should ever have to wear this outfit. More »

Your AL East "Preview"

Leitch — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:45:14 EDT

All right, whether you're ready for it or not, baseball is starting Sunday night. (The Mets will watch the Cardinals raise their World Series title flag. The Cardinals won the World Series last year.) The full slate of games kick off Monday, so we figured it was time to start previewing some divisions. Three today, three tomorrow, with hopefully your predictions as well, because, as you all know, we're terrible at predictions. More »

Wait, Who's Teaching Whom Here?

Leitch — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:00:34 EST

You know, nothing is going to encourage kids to head out there and hit the books than an interactive reading session with Tampa Bay Devil Rays Shawn Camp and Rudy Lugo, particularly because each and every one of the kids is better at reading than Shawn Camp and Rudy Lugo. (Seriously, those SUPERSTAR ATHLETES appear to have been failed by the school systems. Really!) More »

The Devil Rays Suddenly Have A Fan

Leitch — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:30:05 EST

A couple of weeks ago, MJD told you about blogger Manny Stiles auctioning off his team loyalty, setting up an eBay auction (with proceeds going to AIDS research) for a bidder who would want him to write about his/her favorite team. It was a clever idea, and the bidding eventually reached $535. More »

Baseball Season Preview: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Leitch — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:45:05 EST

EM>You might remember, from back at the beginning of the NFL season, when we previewed each team by having a writer we liked write about their favorite team. More »

This Man Is Extremely, EXTREMELY Old

Leitch — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:00:15 EDT

This bespeckled elderly gentleman is Silas Simmons, and he was recently discovered to be the oldest living Negro Leagues ballplayer. He is 110 ... wha? He's 110??!! And he's 111 next month? Jesus. More »

The Closer: Delmon Young Receives Welcoming Gift

rickchand — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:00:38 EDT

Notes from a day in baseball: More »

Must Have Passing Baseball Interest

Leitch — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 15:45:12 EDT

It's tough to find a good job sometimes. Lord knows we rattled around for almost a decade waiting for this one. If you haven't found your dream job yet, the Devil Rays might have a gig for you. More »

Hey, Guys ... You're Still On Camera

Leitch — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 12:15:44 EDT

You know, we continue to find it amazing, in this day of MLB Extra Innings and MLB.tv, that any television announcer would speak freely during the commercial break. Dude: There's a microphone on you. Someone's going to hear. More »

The Closer: Crime Pays

Rick Chandler — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 11:00:02 EDT

Notes from a day in baseball: More »

Delmon Young ... Still A Dick

Leitch — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:45:57 EDT

For those who might have missed it, Delmon Young, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays phenom who winged his bat at an umpire in April, has finished up his 50- (actually 49-)game suspension. Has he come back all contrite and humbled? Not exactly, says Rays Index in a recap of an interview Young gave MinorLeagueBaseball.com. More »

The Virtual Ghost Of Scott Kazmir

Leitch — Wed, 31 May 2006 16:15:19 EDT

One of our favorite aspects of this here Internets is something that should be self-evident: Its inherent appeal to obsessives. No matter what you care about, there's someone out there who cares just as much, probably more. Get it out there, someone will find you. We wonder, sometimes, if the Web had existed, say, 40 years ago, if there'd be an angry Cubs fan still ranting away about trading Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio. More »

One Night At The Trop

Leitch — Fri, 05 May 2006 13:45:37 EDT

We've never been to a game at Tropicana Field in Tampa, home of the Devil Rays, but we always imagined it would be like visiting an enormous Wal-Mart right before it closes. Gawker Media fly-in-the-ointment Andrew Krucoff visited the Trop on Wednesday and filed this brief, but very funny report just for us. Enjoy A-Rod doing the twist, the saddest autograph line and much more. We totally need to see a game in Tampa. More »

The Delmon Young Bat Flip-Out

Leitch — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:00:30 EDT

Tampa Bay Devil Rays fans — both of 'em! Wee! — are all a a-twitter today, as they try to figure out just how long it's going to take top prospect Delmon Young to get to the big leagues now. In case you missed it, Young, after taking a called third strike last night, flipped his bat into the chest of an umpire last evening. More »

The Closer: The Young And The Restless

Leitch — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:15:59 EDT

Notes from a day in baseball: More »

Where A Joke Goes To Die

Leitch — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 13:15:10 EDT

Remember that brief moment when you thought you were the only one who knew about the genius of Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken's "SNL" sketch parodying "Behind The Music: Blue Oyster Cult." Or, as they say, the infamous "More Cowbell" sketch. It was hysterical, and then, suddenly, it was everywhere. (It seems like every fantasy league had that one guy who named his team that ... at least until Bill Simmons named his notes column after it.) More »

Four More Tiny Tidbits On: The Devil Rays

Rick Chandler — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 14:45:45 EDT

Baseball is here! Inspired by an old feature on The Black Table, we're previewing the season by going team-by-team and distributing Four Things You Don't Know about them. If you have suggested oddities on your team, send them to us at tips@deadspin.com. Today: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays. By the way, we know we started this feature with the Devil Rays, but that was so long ago we thought we'd take another crack at it. More »

Your AL East "Preview"

Leitch — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 12:45:55 EST

Obviously, the landscape of the American League East obviously changed dramatically yesterday, but we're gonna go ahead and try to forecast matters anyway. It's hard, but we must tredge forward, regardless. We must stay strong. Some bad predictions: More »

Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Devil Rays

Leitch — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 13:45:34 EST

We'll, we're just more than a month from Opening Day, so it's time to start previewing the season. Inspired by an old feature on The Black Table, we're going team-by-team and distributing Four Things You Don't Know about them. We're not sure how this is gonna work, but if you have suggested oddities on your team, send them to us at tips@deadspin.com. Today, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. More »

There Are No Devil Rays Here

Leitch — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:15:54 EST

We're guessing this kind of the sports equivalent of going into the witness protection program and then putting on fake glasses, growing a beard and dying your hair. More »

Blogdome: Free The Hockey Bloggers

Leitch — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 12:03:57 EDT

• Tampa Bay Lightning decide that they, and their sport, are as popular as they could possibly be and refuse press passes to team blogger. [Off Wing Opinion] More »

So Long, Lou Pinella. Let's Forget This Happened

Leitch — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 15:36:10 EDT

We all knew it was coming, but it's a sad day nevertheless: Lou Pinella has been bought out of his contract by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The whole Pinella-in-Tampa deal was a quixotic one from the get-go, and, as we all suspected, it seemed to drive Pinella insane. There was the (pictured) dying-of-hair incident, the blatant screams for help from the bench and, our favorite, the time he threatened to start the game with relievers on the mound, with starters taking over in the third inning. More »